The Collected Short Fiction of Bruce Jay Friedman [Paperback]

Bruce Jay Friedman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2000

Bruce Jay Friedman has been hailed by critics as a comic genius, a writer whose vision confronts the malaise of contemporary life with a liberating deadpan humor. Grove Press is proud to reissue the collected short stories by this acclaimed master of modern humor. Hailed by Newsweek as "a bona fide literary event," The Collected Short Fiction of Bruce Jay Friedman brings together Friedman's fifty-seven greatest stories, which appeared in Esquire, Playboy, The New Yorker, and other magazines from 1953 to 1995. "Friedman [is] more interesting than most of Malamud, Roth, and Bellow. . . . What makes him more important is that he writes out of the viscera instead of the cerebrum." -- Nelson Algren, The Nation

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From poignant bildungsroman to sly satire, from wicked comedy to surrealistic farce, this virtuosic collection covers more than four decades' worth of short stories (1952-1995) by novelist (Stern), screenwriter (Stir Crazy), and playwright (Steambath) Friedman. With a caricaturist's gift for evoking complexities in a few quick strokes, Friedman illuminates the minds of both ordinary guys and egregious eccentrics as they grapple with pivotal decisions. A college professor contemplates life as a pimp; another man dreams of helping Sammy Davis Jr. relax. A hospital patient's EKG follows fluctuations in a stock price; a suicide "jumper" refuses to be sweet-talked by a cop. The 48 stories here are grouped into seven sections ("Crazed Youth"; "Sex"; "Death," and so on); several of the tales feature Harry Towns, a screenwriter who wrestles with personal responsibility, the uncertainty of Hollywood life and a recreational cocaine habit. In still other stories, one Martin Gans attends strangers' funerals to make sure enough fuss is made; Mr. Prinzo devises a perverse test of his analyst's discretion; Mr. Dworkin weaves elaborate sexual fantasies as he interviews job applicants. Throughout, Friedman explores themes such as loneliness, aging, fear, parenthood and ethnicity, spinning tales in an expertly modulated voice that lies somewhere equidistant from those of Wilde, Salinger and Woody Allen.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Like his film script Splash, the typical Friedman story begins in the realm of the mundane, takes a quick surreal detour, and travels erratically through an idiosyncratic and highly risible countryside. In "The Big Six," for example, clumps of broccoli from a special can allow the eater to return to the past and "consummate early seductions that went awry." Originally published between 1953 and 1995, these 48 stories provide wry commentary on social behavior spanning almost half a century. In a semblance of order, the stories appear under headings like "Crazed Youth," "Mother," "Sex," and "Death." At times these categories themselves seem to be a part of Friedman's running joke. For example, "The Holiday Celebrators" is a tale about gamblers who must arrange traffic fatalities so that they can win bets on the holiday death toll. Inexplicably, this story comes in the middle of the section labeled "Sex." Recommended for most collections.?Albert Wilhelm, Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (October 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802137490
• ISBN-13: 978-0802137494
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,448,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A little touch of Sicko Heaven, June 9, 2004

By 

Gooch McCracken (c/o your haunted slab of Velveeta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Collected Short Fiction of Bruce Jay Friedman (Paperback)

Long ago and far away (when I wore a younger man's thong) I partook of fine quality entertainment of the likes of Terry Southern's stuff & Sid Perelman's feuilletons & the Evelyn Waughwerks. And then I discovered my spiritual doppelganger. Bruce. He touched me---and suddenly---nothing was the same.

Look. I'm not gonna mince words. This is the single greatest short-story collection in the history of the universe. Although then again, I'm not gonna overpraise Bruce's later stories and say that they're as fab as the early stories. But let me thrustfully insist on the weird idiosyncratic brilliance of those early stories. This book is arguably better than beer, possibly better than sex, and definitely better than sex with Bruce Jay Friedman.

Unfortunately, one of those early stories is missing from this collection. Presumably due to sheer carelessness, a story called THE BIG SIX was omitted. My fave story is WHEN YOU'RE EXCUSED. Or possibly THE SUBVERSIVE. About the narrator's wholesome midwestern friend who turns out to be a full-tilt wackaloon. My other favorite is 23 PAT O'BRIEN MOVIES. A satire of suicide-prevention cliches which could've been easily transposed into a 2-character stage-skit. (And what a missed opportunity for Brando & Olivier.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some Good Stuff Here, March 28, 2005

By 

Ethan Cooper (Big Apple) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Collected Short Fiction of Bruce Jay Friedman (Paperback)

Nutty and presumptive daydreams about celebrities or girlfriends are the starting point for the best of these stories.

Among these, my favorite is "Let's Hear It for a Beautiful Guy", where Bruce's narrator explores the difficulties he would encounter if he harbored and cosseted Sammy Davis Jr., who a syndicated gossip columnist says needs a complete rest. This hilarious story, a practical but crazed soliloquy, explores how Sammy's big and generous personality would cope in the narrator's ordinary world, while sharing his studio apartment. (Sammy gets to sleep in the loft. But the narrator's brother-in-law, a big fan, might be trouble.)

With such stories, BJF is a wonder, as he creates voices that are persuasive, logical, and bonkers. These stories are as good as the best stuff in "Fierce Pajamas", the great anthology of humor writing from The New Yorker.

Nonetheless, Bruce can be sentimental.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Stories of the Post-War Generation, January 21, 2000

By 

G. A. Vollmar "andydammit" (Diamond Bar, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Friedman: Collected Short Fiction (Hardcover)

Friedman is a treasure of a writer, chronicling the post WWII generation, specifically in the 60's and 70's. Quite a few of his stories became movies. A truely inspired collection.